Unwanted Wishes
by WifeofRiverSong
Summary: The universe works in mysterious ways, or so I've been told by a friend. I remember wishing upon stars when I was a child; it was one of my favorite pass times. I wished for all sorts of things, but the thing I wished for the most was to travel the universe with a madman in a box. I guess the only thing I can say is you should be careful what you wish for, as it may just come true.
1. Unwanted Beginnings

Chapter 1 - Unwanted Beginnings

I woke up to golden rays of sunlight shining on my face. Birds were chirping merrily outside my window, so it must have been past dawn at the earliest.

' _That's weird,_ ' I thought, thoroughly confused. ' _My alarm usually wakes me up before sunrise. Is it the weekend? I didn't think so but maybe I'm just too out of it._ '

"Hey babe? Did you turn the alarm off?" I groggily mumbled. My words were barely understandable to my own ears. A large yawn escaped my mouth while I patted the bed beside me. I was surprised when my hand touched a dusty mattress and not my sleeping wife. That's when I realized that I was not sleeping on sheets and did not have any blankets on me.

I sat up with a start at that sudden realization. All traces of exhaustion left me in an instant, as if I had been given a shot of epinephrine. I took in my surroundings and couldn't help but wonder where the fuck I was and how in the hell I got there. I was definitely in an abandoned house by the looks of it. The place looked like it had been hit by a tornado and then been left to wither away and rot. There were papers carelessly strewn everywhere and chunks of ceiling hanging precariously, with some crumbling on the floor; even the wallpaper was coming off of its original placement. There was a thick layer of dust on every surface and floating in the air like little clouds. The damaged walls and ceiling were coated in spiderwebs and, presumably, the spiders that inhabited them. It was obvious that no one had stepped foot in this house for a very, very long time, until now that is.

I took another quick look around before gently getting off the bed, trying not to disturb the dust and release more into the air; it was already hard enough to breathe without me making it worse. My feet cautiously maneuvered around the wreckage on the floor and lead me to the door, even though my brain was starting to panic. Once I was outside of the room, I ran down the stairs as quickly as I could, practically jumping down them in my haste. I bolted to the front door and sprinted outside. I didn't know what I was expecting to find, but it most certainly wasn't this.

Trees. Goddamn trees. There was nothing but trees and trees and, guess what, even more trees. I slowly looked back at the house, only to realize that it was a cabin rather than a house, which explains why there were so many bloody trees. I couldn't see a single house or road or any sign of human life anywhere.

"Is someone there?" I yelled into the quiet forest, the only answer being the echo of my voice. "Is this some kind of prank? 'Cause if it is, I'm gonna kill you." There was still nothing but silence. Even the birds weren't chirping at this point, as if they too were holding their breath in anticipation. "Was this you Paul? Come out now and take me back home and I might go easy on you. Maybe." The last word I whispered under my breath, hoping that whoever did this would jump out from behind a tree and yell 'Surprise!'

I waited a few minutes but nothing came; there were no people and no surprises, just me alone in the middle of nowhere with nothing. Whoever did this left me with no belongings, no identification, no money, not even my fucking phone. The only good thing about this entire situation was that they were kind enough to leave me in my pajamas: a pair of underwear, booty shorts, tank top, and no bra, unfortunately. Not the outfit I would have chosen if I had a choice, but much better than being naked.

I was absolutely livid, to say the least. I was half tempted to go beat up one of the surrounding trees to relieve my anger and frustration, but decided against it since I would only end up hurting myself. Instead, I hurled every insult and curse word I could think of at the sky, sometimes including the names of the suspected culprits. After my much needed outburst, I began my trek into the surrounding woods, as that was really my only option at this point. I merely hoped that it was closer to civilization and not deeper into the forest surrounding me. That's all I'd need: to get lost in some unknown forest with no food or water and no cell phone.

I continued my hike for what I believed was an hour, but I was always rubbish with keeping track of time; almost as bad as my instincts for direction. By some miracle, I spotted a town up ahead. It was small, obviously unknown by most; hell, it might not even be on a map. As I began walking through, I noticed a lot of people staring at me, most with curiosity. Who could blame them though? I'd probably stare too if I saw a disheveled twenty five year old in pajamas and with bare feet who was obviously lost. Some, however, catcalled at me, and if I wasn't in such a predicament I would have punched them in the face, at the very least.

While most people got out of my way as quickly as possible, as if I was infected with the plague or something, one man walked straight towards me. He looked to be about in his seventies, with graying hair, wrinkles, a cane, and a pair of old school khakis. I was weary for a second, but he had a nice, friendly smile and my instincts weren't raising any alarms. That's the thing about me: my instincts were absolute crap when it came to directions, but were always excellent with people or situations; it really helped me a lot in the hospital.

The man stopped right in front of me, causing me to stop as well. I was just about to step around him when he spoke up. "Do you need any help miss?" he questioned with a concerned look, almost like a parent.

' _Maybe he is._ ' I was just about to tell him no, that I was fine, when a thought struck me.

"Do you have a phone, sir? And if so, may I please borrow it to call my family?" I asked pleadingly, practically begging even.

' _God, I sound fucking pathetic._ '

"Why yes I do," he explained comfortingly as he pulled a flip phone of all things out of his pocket and handed it over to me.

He began to ramble on about how his son made him get a phone because he liked to wander off into the woods without telling anyone. He was adamant that he was a grown man and didn't need a babysitter, dammit. His words, not mine. Nodding my head along, I pretended to listen to his rant and agree with him about his nosy, overprotective, and overbearing son. In reality, I began to type in one of the few numbers I knew by heart: Abigail's. Or at least, it should have been my wife's number.

The person on the other end of the line picked up after two rings. I was expecting worry, fear, maybe even anger, but I was not expecting a gruff, baritone voice, that most certainly did not belong to my wife, to say "What!" in an annoyed tone. I checked the number I had dialed, even triple checked it, but I was 99.99% certain that this number belonged to my wife. I even checked the area code, including the international number. It just didn't make sense.

' _Is this a part of that stupid ass prank, too?_ '

"I'm sorry, who is this?" I tried to say in the most polite way possible, even though I could feel my anger beginning to rise again.

"Doug Wright. And who the hell are you? Don't you know what fucking time it is?"

Jesus Christ, I was already on a short fuse as it is, but this rude asshole was not helping. Like, no matter how terrible this dude's day was, I can guarantee that mine would win a goddamn prize for the absolute worst. I really didn't want to blow up on this prick, 'cause then I probably wouldn't get any answers, like, why this dude has my wife's phone and why his name sounds so familiar.

"My name's Kaylah Tenhoff. I'm sorry if I woke you, sir, but I am trying to get in contact with an Abigail Johnson. Do you happen to know her?" I was running through possible scenarios as to why he would have her phone.

' _Doug. Doug. Where do I know that from? Does he work at the hospital? I'm pretty sure I would have known if that was the case. Maybe he's a friend of Abigail's who's just borrowing it? But then why would he sound so angry and not just give the phone to her? Maybe he stole it? Maybe he was some douchey relative that was just being a bitch?_ '

All of these thoughts and more whirled around in my head as I tried to come up with some plausible explanation.

After what felt like years of thinking, even though it was probably only a few seconds, the man on the other line answered. "Are you talking about Abigail Wright? Her maiden name was Abigail Johnson, but no one's really called her that since we got married." He still sounded angry at being woken up, but some of it had subsided.

Me, though? My mind was whirling around at a thousand miles per hour, trying so desperately to understand. My confusion must have visibly showed because the old man who had still been jabbering about his son gently took my arm and guided me to a bench. I sat down, still not able to understand.

' _This can't be right. It must be a different Abigail._ '

My brain started to actually think, and I had to thank my medical training for making it so that I could think and function even when I was internally screaming in frustration. Pieces began to fall into place, pieces I didn't even know existed before. Like how Abigail dated a dude in high school named Doug, back when she still thought she liked dudes, and how she planned on marrying him until he ditched her at prom. She used to say how she would fantasize being called Abigail Wright before she knew how much of a dick he was.

' _So, that's why his name is so familiar. But that's impossible. I mean, what are the chances that Doug Wright marries a different woman named Abigail Johnson who has the same number as my Abigail? They're practically nonexistent. But, on the other hand, what are the chances that my Abigail is actually married to this asshole and has been lying to me for over a decade, has been lying to our kids?_ '

I wouldn't let myself believe it, I couldn't. But there was a little thought in the back of my head that I tried to push away that kept nagging at me that anything was possible. And to think, this all started with some asshole's idea of a prank.

' _I need to know. I need to know. I need to know._ '

Those four words kept running through my head as I gathered every ounce of courage I could muster and spoke into the phone, hoping to God that my voice didn't betray my whirlwind of distraught emotions.

"I understand that it's late, but may I speak to your wife, please? It's an emergency." Surprisingly, my voice came out evenly, although it did crack a little bit on the word wife, because of that stupid nagging thought. The amazing man next to me, who was silently listening to my turmoil, must have heard the crack as well because he began to soothingly rub his hand up and down my back. I felt my body relax, just a little bit, into the comforting action that was greatly welcomed and needed.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess." He definitely didn't sound convinced that it was an emergency, but he complied anyways. The gentle rustling of blankets could be heard over the line as the man tried to wake up his wife.

"What is it?" she hissed, obviously drowsy and upset at being woken up. Other words from their conversation drifted over the line, but I was too shocked to single any of them out. That was Abigail's voice, my Abigail. Even sleepy and angry, I would recognize that voice anywhere. An hour ago, I would have been overjoyed to hear her voice, but the implications hit me like a sledgehammer to the stomach.

' _She cheated on me. That has to be the case. It isn't possible for Doug Wright to marry a woman named Abigail Johnson who also sounds exactly like her. That's just not possible. How could she do that to me?! To the girls?! How could she cheat on me with some asshole who dumped her on prom?! I thought I knew her better than that. I thought she was better than that. She's even gay as fuck so what the shit?!_ '

My mind felt like a hurricane was running through it and destroying all the memories we had built together. I knew this woman for 7 years of my life and I had loved her for that long, and this was how she repaid me?

Everything inside my head was falling apart, until I heard those five words that would make me question everything. The background noise that I was previously tuning out suddenly became clear when I heard Doug say my name, followed by Abigail saying, "I don't know that woman."

The hurricane of thoughts and emotions was stunned into silence by those words. They were said with so much sincerity and conviction that they must have been true. Abigail was always a shit liar. I knew her tells like the back of my head, and that statement was definitely the truth. The ramification of her words knocked the breath out of my lungs and made it difficult for me to breathe. The man beside me began to stroke my back again. I was so caught up in my head that I hadn't even realized that he had stopped at some point.

The hurricane that was previously roaring exploded once again in a more ferocious manner. Every thought and emotion was muddled to the point where I couldn't pinpoint anything except those five words. Those five words that kept revolving around in my head, that shot daggers into my heart every time I heard them in her voice, that were mentally and physically breaking me.

' _How could she not even know me? How?!_ '

Even my internal thoughts sounded broken.

I barely registered that dick, Doug, telling me to fuck off and not call again before the click of him hanging up rang in my ears. My hand moved of its own accord to hand it back to the kind man beside me. I didn't look at his face, but I could practically feel his pity and sympathy washing over me. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was in the middle of nowhere with no belongings, my wife didn't know me, and it was probably the same for my kids. So, I let it all out; my frustration, my anger, my confusion, my grief rained down my face in swaths of tears. I leaned on to the bony shoulder next to me and sobbed. I cried until there was nothing left.

After about half an hour of that, I began to feel much more relaxed and calm. Well, that's what I like to pretend I felt. In reality, I just felt drained. My head was empty and emotionless and the only thing I wanted was to wake up to find this was all a horrifying nightmare. But I knew deep down that it wasn't. My barefoot, pain-filled trek through the forest had proven that, unfortunately. There were so many thoughts running through my head but I was too tired to really think about any one. I'd rationalize my situation later, after some much needed sleep.

When the tears ran dry and I stopped sniveling, I looked up at the man to apologize for making a mess of his shirt. However, he shushed me before I could get a word out.

"Don't worry about it. I have two children and five grandchildren. This isn't even close to the worst mess I've had to clean," he assured, with a warm, genuine smile on his face. The smile fell slightly when he continued. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened? I promise that I will not be upset if you do not wish to talk about it with a stranger."

An inner turmoil began in my head of whether I should tell him or not, and if so, what I could tell him, since I had no fucking clue what was going on myself. I didn't want to end up in a mental asylum or anything. It didn't help matters that I didn't know if he would be accepting of the fact that I had a wife or not.

' _Fuck it. It's not like today can get any worse.' The thought crossed my mind before I could stop it. 'This is not the bloody time to be jinxing yourself._ '

"Um," I started, trying to think of what to say, "I was staying at a relative's house a few miles away, but she kicked me out. She found out that I married a woman and decided that she didn't want me in her house anymore because she thought I would turn her daughter gay. She wouldn't even let me change or collect any of my belongings. So, I started walking until I found this town and then you were the first person to offer me help. I decided to call my wife to see if she could come pick me up, but as it turns out, she thought this would be the perfect time to have a man over to cheat on me. Then, when I found out, she kicked me out of our house. Now, I have no clothes, no money, no family, and no home to go to. I'm all alone."

The only parts of my story that were true were the last two sentences and they were said with so much hopelessness that I would have pitied me too if I was him. I guess my partially made up story was convincing because he wrapped me up in a big hug that almost made me start crying again.

"I'm so, so sorry about everything. All of those things should never happen to anyone, especially not on the same day. I insist you come stay with me, for at least one night, just so you could get your bearings again. I know my husband would be more than delighted to have a guest over, especially one who could use some help." Even though he said insist, his tone was practically demanding. Like a parent trying to force their child to eat their veggies. It reminded me of my wife telling our girls to go to bed. That thought hurt more than I'd like to admit.

I balked at his words; not because I thought he had any nefarious plans, but because his words were so genuine. This man was willing to let a complete stranger into his home so that they could get back on their feet.

"I don't know what to say," I replied, completely awestruck by his generosity. "That would be amazing. Thank you so much." The large smile on my face was definitely out of place compared to the puffy eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and creaky voice that I was positive I had.

The old man, who seemed more angel than man, ' _well the ones in stories, not in Supernatural,_ ' gave me a reassuring smile as he kindly lead me to his house. The journey was slow due to his leisurely movements, but it didn't feel that way. The time was filled with talking. He told me all about his husband and his kids and grandkids. They all sounded so wonderful. Thankfully, he didn't ask me any questions about my family, as he must have guessed that that was a very sore topic.

Eventually, we found our way to his house. It was on the outskirts of the town and very rustic looking. Some of the house was made out of natural colored wood, which was the doorways, window frames, and archways over the doors and windows, but the rest was made out of smoothed stones. There were a few outside lights drilled into the walls here and there. The roof was made of a very nice brown tile that really added to the whole look. Overall, the house had a very homey feeling to it. It just made me feel warm and invited, but also homesick for my own home. One that I'd probably never go back to if this was all real and not some prank or dream, like I was starting to fear it was.

We continued making our way down the driveway and he hurried in front of me in order to unlock the door. He let himself in and I quickly followed after him, wiping my feet off on the floor mat in front of the front door. The interior of the house looked very similar to the exterior. It was filled to the brim with wood: wood archways, wooden tables, light fixtures made out of wood, wooden stools and chairs, bookcases, a TV cabinet, wooden stairs with a matching handrail. The nice thing was that the wood was all the exact same color, a glossy black, so there was this beautiful flow to the place. There was a black leather reclining couch in front of the TV and its cabinet. The bookcases were overflowing with books of obvious different genres, from guides to science fiction.

He continued leading me through the house and up the stairs until we reached a plain door.

' _This must be a guest bedroom._ ' As if reading my thoughts, he stated that this was the guest bedroom where I would be staying until I was able to properly take care of myself again.

"I suggest you get some sleep; you look exhausted. You can meet my husband, John, in the morning." He was just about to turn around to leave when it looked like a thought struck him. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Mark. And what's yours?" he questioned gently.

"Kaylah," I answered drowsily, laying down on the bed and welcoming the wonderful thought of sleep. "Goodnight, Mark," I said, a yawn making its way past my lips.

"Goodnight, Kaylah," he repeated, quietly closing the door behind him. I was already fast asleep before it closed, without even making my way under the covers. I dreamt of playing in the park with my wife and kids.

* * *

The smell of fresh cooked pancakes and bacon pulled me from my wonderful dreams. I wore a smile on my face for a few seconds, that quickly fell as I remembered the events of yesterday.

' _What the hell is going on?_ ' My inner voice sounded just as frustrated and confused as I felt. Every possibility I could think of just didn't fit the situation; this wasn't a dream since I could feel pain, it wasn't a hallucination because those are more like impossible things in an ordinary situation, not really an entire impossible situation, and it wasn't a prank since Abigail would never go along with something so cruel.

I continued to lay in bed, contemplating my situation. An explanation would pop into my head only for me to dismiss it just as quickly. My endless thoughts were beginning to drive me crazy when I heard a quiet knock at the door. For a second, I thought I was beginning to hear things, although, that wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen to me lately. As if to prove my thought wrong, another knock, louder this time, followed the first.

"Kaylah? Breakfast is ready if you're feeling up to it. There's some fresh clothes outside the door for you. I don't quite know your size but you look about the same as our daughter so hopefully they fit. You can also take a shower and brush your teeth after eating if you'd like to freshen up." Mark's words were spoken with so much sincerity, more than I expected to find from a complete stranger. His graciousness almost brought tears to my eyes. Almost.

I cleared my throat quickly, trying to dislodge the bundle of emotions there. "That sounds wonderful. I'll be down in a second," I said, answering his unspoken question. I listened to his footsteps retreat back down the stairs before moving towards the door leading to the hallway. Opening it I found a pair of Marvel comic sweatpants, a plain, black tank top, a simple bra, and a matching pair of underwear. Surprisingly, everything fit fairly well, although the bra was just a bit too large.

Walking through the hallway and down the stairs, I took note of little things that I was too exhausted to notice last night. Like the pictures all over the walls of the hall, or the little ticks of children's growth on the inside of bedroom door frames, or the smoothness of the worn down handrail of the stairs. It was obvious that this house was lived in and loved. The walls were practically oozing with memories and happiness. The people arguing downstairs, however, told a bit of a different story.

There were three masculine voices, seemingly talking over each other. One was definitely Mark's, but I didn't recognize the other two, until I heard one of them say the word dad.

' _Ah. He must be their son, the one he was kindly complaining about. So I'm gonna assume that the other voice is John, but I could be wrong._ '

I didn't want to eavesdrop, I really didn't, but I'd always been too curious for my own good. On top of that, it seemed like they were talking about me since I continuously heard 'she' and 'stranger.' Based on the tone of his words, the son did not like the idea of me staying here with his 'defenseless' parents. Well, I had heard enough.

I started walking down the stairs, making sure that my steps were a bit louder than I'd have normally made them in order to get their attention. It worked like a charm, since everyone immediately shut up. The best part was reaching the bottom of the stairs and seeing them all try to act like they weren't just talking about me. Spoiler, they didn't do very good.

"Good morning, Mark," I said with a friendly smile on my face. Looking around at the other two men, I waited patiently for someone to introduce themself.

Mark seemed to be the only one to get the hint, as he quickly piped in that the older man of the two was his husband, John, and the youngest man was their son, Jeffrey, before introducing me as well. John looked to be a bit younger than Mark and he was extremely fit for his age, with visible muscles in his legs, arms, and, I'm assuming, stomach. He had mostly grey hair, with a corresponding mustache, and a stony look covering his squarish face to pull the whole thing together. A voice in the back of my head was telling me that he could be threatening, but I was too tired to listen to that little shit head. Jeffrey, on the other hand, looked completely opposite. He looked to be about my age, with short, black hair and his own matching black mustache and just barely a hint of a beard that looked good with his oval face. On top of that, he had brown skin, which was much different from the light skin of his parents.

' _He must be adopted._ '

"Good morning, Kaylah," Mark said, followed by the other two, although they didn't sound nearly as cheery. The silence that followed was deafening and the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. Mark must have felt it too because he immediately began serving everyone a plate of food and then ushered us to the table.

Breakfast was comprised of coffee (mine with three sugars and milk, which was met with disgusted looks from all three, who took theirs black), scrambled eggs, bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes, which were delicious.

' _Abigail would kill me if she heard me saying this, but I think they're even better than hers._ '

The thought of Abigail quickly killed any good mood I was starting to have due to the normality of having breakfast at a dining room table.

Everyone was silent during the meal. I couldn't quite figure out if it was because they were too busy eating or didn't know what to say to me. I'd bet my money on the second, but either way, the tension and awkward silence settled back around the four of us like smoke. It was finally broken when I finished eating and thanked my hosts for making such an amazing meal. They each quietly said, "you're welcome," before beginning to clear the table. I tried my best to get up and help but Mark gently pushed me back to the table, saying that I was their guest. Jeffrey even snorted at me when I realized I was fighting a losing battle, especially when John joined in to side with Mark.

The table was clean once again; the only things remaining were the coffee mugs. Its previously missing occupants sat back down again. The silence settled around us once more, although it had subsided somewhat and it was almost companionable. I wasn't focused on the silence, though; I was too busy thinking of what to do. I needed answers, that much was certain, and the fastest way to get them, like with most things, was the internet. So I asked the question I had been both dreading and anticipating.

"Do any of you have a computer I could borrow?"

John, surprisingly, was the one to answer. "Yes we do. It's upstairs in my old office area. Jeffrey, would you show her?"

I could tell that Jeffrey wanted to argue, but at the hard look on his father's face that screamed 'do as I say,' he begrudgingly lead me away from the table and up the stairs.

I was stuck in my own head, as usual it seems, when Jeffrey suddenly stopped right in front of me, causing me to stumble into his back. I mumbled a quick sorry before looking around the room that I hadn't even noticed we walked into. There was a bookshelf filled with books, similar to the ones downstairs, a few metal cabinets that must have been for filing, and a nice redwood desk with an ancient computer on top of it. And when I say ancient, I mean prehistoric. The monitor looked like one of those old box TVs, the harddrive was the size of a cement block, the mouse was connected by a thick wire, and the keyboard had an even thicker wire. To top it all off, the whole ensemble was striking white, as if it was brand new. Which was impossible.

' _Nobody sells these pieces of junk anymore, and definitely not in this condition. Seriously, what the hell is going on?_ '

Unfortunately, Jeffrey must have taken my stunned silence as awe-filled since he began to ramble on about how amazing it was and how he had to practically force his fathers to buy it. My moment of shock was finally broken when he said that it was the best on the market.

"I'm sorry, what? What did you just say?" I asked, absolutely confused.

'The computer I got a few years ago could run laps around this thing and that's considered outdated, so how could this piece of junk be brand new?'

He looked at me, clearly just as confused as I was. "It runs amazingly?"

"No, not that. After that," I clarified, beginning to get frustrated. It didn't help that a feeling of foreboding was starting to build in the pit of my stomach.

"It's the best on the market?" he questioned, still not understanding.

"What model is this?"

That feeling was spreading throughout my body like a plague and I was dreading the answer. I almost wished I hadn't asked.

"An Amiga 2000. Why?" he asked, completely perplexed by my reaction, which was me leaning onto the desk for support and then slowly collapsing into the nearby chair.

' _2000? How? How can it be 2000?' Once I got over the initial shock, I started putting pieces together, like a big jigsaw puzzle that would tell me what the fuck was going on instead of showing a picture. 'So, 2000. That would explain the flip phone and the old ass computer and the fact that Mark and John aren't wearing wedding rings, even though they've clearly been in love for a long time. Even if I do believe that I'm in 2000, which is a big-ass if, that still doesn't explain how or why. And why was Abigail the same age as in my time, when she should be a teenager? And if she is somehow the same age, why is she somehow married to Doug the Dick? It seems like I'm only getting more questions and no answers._ '

Meanwhile, Jeffrey was unaware of my second existential crisis in two days and decided to just leave me, since I was obviously a weirdo. Or at least, that's what I thought he was thinking when I became aware of my surroundings again and found myself alone. It seemed like life had it out for me.

Once I managed to get my raging emotions under control, which wasn't an easy feat, by the way, I turned on the computer in order to continue on my original path for answers.

' _Do I still want answers though? Since they keep hurting me more and more?' I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head. Of course I wanted answers. I wanted, no, needed to know what happened to me and if I could fix it. The only way to maybe get back home was with answers. Besides, I would rather know than spend the rest of my life wondering._ '

It took forever for the computer to turn on and even longer for the internet to start up. When everything was finally in order, I began to search. I looked for family members, friends, acquaintances. It was a bit hard since there were pretty much no social media services, but at least I had Google.

Despite it being seventeen years earlier than the year I was from, it seemed that everyone I knew was the same age. Which was definitely weird. Even weirder though, was the fact that I couldn't find any information about me. There were no pictures of me with friends, nothing about my wedding to Abbigail or our kids' births, no information at the hospital I worked at, I couldn't even find my birth certificate.

' _It's like I don't exist._ '

I tried to brush that thought away due to its absurdity, but the more I considered it, the more it made sense. Which means I would also have to be in another universe, like that Doctor Who episode with the Cybermen. I didn't know which thought was more terrifying: me not existing or me being in another universe.

The icing on the cake was when I finally did find news of a child born to my mother and father, but it wasn't me. The child's name was Kaleb, a boy born on the 16th of February, the same day as I was, exactly seventeen years earlier, like everyone else. He was an only child born to my parents, who were born to my grandparents. A thought struck me that suddenly made my situation perfectly understandable.

' _He was born instead of me. Which means that I am all alone in a universe that isn't mine where I don't even exist._ '

My mind was a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts and the last one I remembered before I was consumed by suffocating darkness was, ' _why me?_ '

A/N

This is my first shot at a fanfiction. Reviews are very appreciated because they give me motivation. So, please review, but only constructive criticism if you're going to criticize. Thank you for reading.


	2. Can I Kill Whoever Created Mannequins?

Chapter 2 - Can I Kill Whoever Created Mannequins?

 _Penelope and Luna were making a sandcastle. At least, that's what I thought they were trying to do. There was a tiny continuous mound of sand surrounding the structure that must have been a wall and the 'buildings' inside were really nothing more than roundish piles. It was the best the girls could do, though, since Abigail and I had forgotten the molds at home. Penny and Lu were definitely upset, but they decided to just try their best without them, especially at their mama's insistence that they were talented enough to make a masterpiece all on their own. I don't know how she did it, but that woman had such a way with our kids._

 _They were laughing and giggling, but eventually their peaceful sandcastle building turned into a sand fight. I had to break it up soon after it started because Penelope began crying about getting sand in her eyes. I quickly cleaned her up since I was the 'designated healer,' as Abi would say, because of my medical training. Luna, the little devil, was cackling away, not even bothering to apologize to her sister until my darling, yet scary, wife made her. She could be such a mama bear when one of her kids got hurt._

 _After a stearn chastising from both of us about not throwing sand at people, especially each other, they decided that they would rather play in the ocean for a bit. They also decided that it would be even more fun to drag Mama and Mommy in with them. Abigail was completely on board, as I had expected, but I just wanted to relax for a bit and read my book. It seemed I would have no such luck. I tried to argue my way out of it, I really did, but I could never say no to the Triple Pout of Doom; they knew that, too, the little brats._

 _I'm ashamed to admit that I caved almost immediately. As soon as they realized this, all three of them fist bumped each other and cheered. Good God, they were going to be the death of me one of these days. The four of us walked towards the ocean, hand in hand with Penny and Lu in between Abi and I; it was like a picture perfect moment._

 _But we never made it. The second my toes felt the cold touch of the water, everything around me disappeared, as if it was never there to begin with. Everything was gone: the beach, the ocean, my family; all that was left was nothingness. I tried to call out for them but no sound came out. It was like sound didn't even exist here, wherever here was._

 _I don't know how long I wandered. It could have been seconds or weeks or maybe years. I wasn't hungry or thirsty or tired. It was like this place existed outside of time. There was no time, no sound, no light. There was just nothingness. No matter where I looked, no matter how many miles I walked (or has it only been a few feet?), no matter how many days I stayed in this place (or has it been minutes?)._

 _The nothingness was beginning to drive me insane when I finally heard something. It must have been weeks since I heard any noise (or has it been years?). I stood up, not even remembering when I had stopped my endless trek, and began to run towards where I thought it was coming from. I must have been on the right track, surprisingly, because the sound was getting louder and it was distinctly beeping noises._

Beep. Beep. Beep.

 _It was monotone and continuous, like a machine. Just those three beeps and then a moment of silence that was unbearable after so long of silence (was it a long time?)_

 _I continued my frantic, almost crazed, sprint and saw the beginning of something I thought I would never see again: light. Light was shining from where the noise was coming from and I began to run faster, faster than I thought possible._

 _I wondered what I would find outside of this nothingness. Would there be more noises and light? Would there be time? Would my family be there? The last question was really the only thing that mattered._

Beep. Beep. Beep.

 _When I finally reached the light and the source of the noise, after hours (or was it seconds?), I didn't find myself on that beach with my family like I was hoping I would._

I woke up and instinctively slammed my fist on my ringing alarm clock. I looked beside me in search of my sleeping wife, only to remember that she would never be there again. I had done the same thing for the last five years, always finding myself alone. By this point, I really should have expected it, but it was still a punch in the stomach every morning.

I laid in bed, thinking about my dream. Every night since I learned the truth, I'd had pretty much the same dream. The beginning part would have different scenarios, but it always included my family and it would always end with me surrounded by nothingness. It seemed like my brain was trying to tell me something that was staring me straight in the face, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It didn't help that it was near impossible for me to think in the morning without coffee.

The thought of coffee forced me out of bed and into the kitchen to start on breakfast. It was just some bacon, scrambled eggs, and sugary coffee, nothing special like what Abigail and I used to make for the girls on the weekend.

' _If I keep thinking of her every second of the day I'm gonna go insane. Hell, maybe I already am_.'

I ate in silence, trying not to let my mind wander to the past; it had been five years and it was still too painful to think about.

The flip phone on the countertop broke the silence with its vibration, alerting me to the text message I had received. It was a piece of crap compared to the phones in 2017, but at least I could call and text. I picked it up while still chewing some food and read that it was Rose Tyler asking me if I could cover her shift since she thought she was coming down with something. I swallowed and let out a groan of displeasure before replying yes.

Yeah, learning that she was real was a bit of a shock; it wasn't the biggest surprise, but it was definitely up there. Initially, I put it off as a coincidence; just some random name. However, I met her mother, Jackie Tyler, and then her boyfriend, Mickey Smith. Now, once was random, twice was a coincidence, but three times was a pattern. I had ignored patterns in the past and they had turned out to be true, so I had a dreadful feeling that this one would be the same.

So I did some research, which led me to Clyde, who also exists, and his conspiracy theories about the Doctor. It was a bit too easy to convince him to meet up and trade information since he was obviously excited that someone actually believed him. If it wasn't for my previous knowledge, I would have labelled him as a conspiracy nut like everyone else did. He told me everything he could find about The Doctor and I helped him fill in some of the blanks.

Throughout the entire conversation I was pretty much working on autopilot: my brain was taking in the information and responding accordingly, but I wasn't processing any of it. I was just sitting there in shock, having my third existential crisis, despite the fact that I was twenty years too young to even be having one. I mean, the Doctor exists; he really exists. And so does all of his companions and all of his adventures and all of his enemies. I would have said it was impossible if the impossible hadn't already happened. It was like the universe refused to give me a fucking break. I wasn't asking for much, just some goddamn normality, but no, instead I got thrown into my favorite TV show. Don't get me wrong, that would have been a dream come true when I was still a teenager. Now, though? Now all I wanted was to just be back with my family.

I finished eating quickly and changed into some suitable work clothes: a black v-neck, black sweatshirt, dark blue jeans, and black converse. It was extremely plain, but anything too 'out there' and my boss would get upset. Hell, he was even upset about my pixie cut, although I refused to change that. I grabbed my Supernatural purse and walked out the door towards my minimum wage job at Henrick's. I would have killed to have a car, even an old piece of crap, but that was just too expensive for how much I was making.

I was about halfway to work when I reached into my purse to check the time on my phone. Except, it wasn't there, since the universe fucking hates me. I was tempted to turn around, but a quick word with the person beside me about the time told me I was going to be late.

' _There went that idea. It's not like I really need my phone, anyways. But if I'm late again, Thomas will actually fire me_.'

With that thought in mind, I began running, too busy trying to remember the fastest routes to watch where I was going. Unfortunately, I should have been looking in front of me because I slammed into a hard chest not even a minute later. The person I ran into fell backwards at the force of my hit and I came tumbling down as well. I landed on top of them in a very unseemly fashion, much to my further embarrassment.

' _Why, oh why does the universe hate me? What did I ever do to it?_ '

I looked up, only to see him, the Doctor, the man I'd been waiting for.

' _Wow, that sounded so cliché. Is that what I've become, a walking cliché? God, put me out of my misery if that's the case_.'

"Oh my God."

The words left my mouth in an amazed tone before I could stop them. I had been hoping to not come off as a weirdo, but that pretty much blew those chances out of the water.

The Doctor, however, had the audacity to laugh at my fumble.

' _I don't know what's more surprising: the fact that I'm straddling the Ninth Doctor with his hands on my hips or that he's actually laughing at me. And God, is that a fantastic laugh. It just makes me want to make him laugh every chance I get._ '

I was pulled from my thoughts, that were quickly spiraling to places I did not want them to be, by his voice.

"You know, I was really hoping I looked good, but I guess that just proves it," he said with a cheeky smile on his face that may or may not have made me feel like I was melting. If I wasn't blushing before, I most certainly was now.

"I, um, I, that's, that's not what I meant. I mean, don't get me wrong, you do look good, very good in fact, but um, I," I tried to stumble my way out of the mess I had caused myself but I just couldn't think clearly. I was always bad when put on the spot and this situation was definitely not helping.

Now he was smirking at me, like he found my stuttering amusing, which was probably the case. I narrowed my eyes menacingly at him, but his smirk only grew.

"As nice as it was to meet you, I have some place I need to be."

That's when I remembered that I was still straddling his hips, in the middle of a public sidewalk, while blushing like a flustered idiot.

' _Seriously, why me?!_ '

I swear, my eyes must have grown to the size of plates as I quickly stumbled to my feet. I was about to reach down to offer him a hand, but he was already picking himself up.

Once he was upright, I began my flurry of medical questions, ignoring my embarrassment in favor of jumping into doctor mode. I asked him if he was experiencing nausea, dizziness, impaired thinking, blurred vision, ringing in his ears, and/or sensitivity to lights or sounds, which are all signs of a concussion. I was starting to look around for something that could function as a makeshift penlight to check his pupil constriction when I heard him laugh at me again.

"Thank you for the concern, but I'm fine. Really." His lips were twitching from his barely contained laughter.

I was just about to press, because even though he feels fine, that doesn't mean he is, when I remembered who I was talking to.

' _Right. Gallifreyan physiology. Ten fell from a fucking spaceship and was mostly fine, so I'm sure Nine could fall from his own height without any damage. On the other hand, though, Four regenerated after a fall from a radio dish. So maybe I should make sure, just to be safe._ '

Before I could get a word out about how I needed him to answer my questions, he said, "isn't there somewhere you need to be, since you were too busy running to even see me?" That damn smirk was back in full force.

Once again, my eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Oh fuck! I'm gonna be late for work! Shit!"

I began running as if I was being chased by hell hounds, which I would have much rather preferred over facing Thomas' anger. I yelled a quick sorry over my shoulder before turning a corner, just barely catching the sound of the Doctor's laughter.

I don't know how I did it, but I somehow managed to barely make it on time to work. By barely, I mean literal seconds before my shift was supposed to start. I'm pretty sure I left skid marks on the polished floor, from the front door to the time card puncher in the back. Like I said, I was only seconds early.

Once I knew that I wasn't going to be fired for being late again, I let out a breath of relief, one that I hadn't even realized I was holding. I made my way to the employee break room to put my purse away in my locker and to grab my name tag from it. That's when realization hit me.

' _Wait, if the Doctor's here, then that means all that shit with the mannequins is gonna happen today. Jesus, this day just keeps getting worse and worse by the second. Hold up, Rose isn't here. She's supposed to be here. Does that mean I'm gonna be the dumbass white chick in the creepy basement filled with mannequins? Well, shit._ '

I thumped my head against my locker door at the thought of facing killer mannequins. I was definitely not looking forward to that shit. That would be like my own personal version of hell, especially after working in this place for so long.

' _I'll have to make sure to bring my pocket knife with me, since there's no fucking way I'm facing those things unarmed. Ha! Unarmed!_ '

I laughed out loud at my accidental joke/reference, which was exactly what I needed to ease my nerves a bit.

I readied myself for the long day of interacting with people that was ahead of me. The thought of facing killer mannequins was almost better. Almost. When I was as ready as I'd ever be, I walked back into the main room to start setting up displays and to help anyone who'd need it.

' _Today is going to be one long ass day._ '

* * *

Sometimes I really hate being right. My terribly long and frustrating day ended with me being handed a bag full of the lottery money that I was told to give to Wilson. That situation was definitely all too familiar and was making me regret ever deciding to work here in the first fucking place.

' _I swear to God, if I die for a few extra bucks each week, I'll beat the shit out of myself._ '

I started walking towards the elevator that would take my stupid ass to the creepy basement, double checking that my pocket knife was in my sweatshirt pocket. I was very tempted to just say fuck it and turn right back around to walk home instead, but then the Doctor wouldn't have the arm to track the head to track the signal and who knows if everything would work out or not. So, I decided that I was gonna be brave, and hope that it didn't get me killed.

' _I wouldn't even be surprised at this point._ '

When I was in the elevator, though, I began cursing my stupid sense of courage and bravery. I was cursing myself, the bloody killer mannequins, the stupid Nestene Consciousness that thought it was better than us humans, the whole fucking universe that decided I was just a puppet to do with what it wants. By the time I made it down to the basement, I was too pissed off to be scared anymore, which pretty much sums up my entire existence.

I didn't bother calling out to Wilson; I knew the poor man was dead. He was a bit of a hermit, but he was a good person, always nice and polite whenever I talked to him. I didn't know how he died, but I was sure it was worse than he deserved.

' _I wonder if he had a family. Or maybe he lost them, like me._ '

I pushed those thoughts out of my head in favor of focusing on my surroundings. The last thing I needed was to get attacked when I wasn't expecting it.

I continued walking down the unfamiliar hallway. Unfortunately, I didn't come down here enough to have the routes memorized, so I was just stumbling along, hoping that I found the Doctor before the building blew up.

' _He'd check to make sure that the building was empty before blowing it up. Right?_ '

I was sure he would, but I didn't feel like betting my life on it.

There was a sharp clang off to my left, like a pipe being hit. ' _And that must be a mannequin. Oh joy!_ '

Reluctantly, I inched towards the noise, knife clutched tightly in my right hand. I really didn't want to be anywhere near those things, but the fastest way to find the Doctor is to find trouble and that's what I needed to do. Unfortunately, my previous anger was starting to ebb away and the fear began returning.

The noise I had heard earlier came from a closed door. I slowly pushed it open, only to find myself standing in the mannequin storage area.

' _I really should have expected that, with my record-breaking terrible luck and all._ '

I knew what had made that noise, so instead of moving further into the room to investigate, I decided to stay put and wait for them to come to me. Eventually, that's exactly what happened.

The mannequins started moving sluggishly, as if they didn't quite know how to. And let me tell ya, that shit was scary, like being in a horror movie. At the same time, though, it was kinda funny that they were walking like toddlers. Big, scary, killer, plastic toddlers, but toddlers, nonetheless.

I was so busy thinking up insults and jokes to try and make myself less scared, that I barely noticed that they were almost right in front of me. Now, upon realizing that, the smart thing to do would have been to run away from them as fast as I could. However, when put into a fight or flight situation, I usually chose fight, even when I probably shouldn't. So instead of backing up like any sane person would in this situation, I decided to try my luck attacking them. Yeah, even doctors can be idiots.

I lunged forward, narrowly missing the arm that was aimed at my head, and swung my own arm upwards to embed my knife in its plastic version of a skull. Like everything else in my life, that didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. The Auton was unfazed by the knife protruding from its head and continued its assault. I barely had enough time to yank my knife out before finally retreating towards the door.

As I backed up, I slashed at reaching arms and hands. It wasn't doing much when it came to slowing them down, but it was making me feel better so I continued. My back hit the door sooner than I would have liked because now the Autons were quickly surrounding me. My fighting was more desperate than coordinated at this point.

One of them raised their arm, presumably to disintegrate me. In a last ditch effort, I swung my right arm up and brought it crashing down on the mannequin's lifted wrist. I didn't know what I was expecting, but whatever it was, it didn't happen. My knife buried itself into the plastic to the point where I couldn't retract it. Now, I was weaponless, as well as screwed.

The same mannequin raised its arm again, now refurbished with its very own pocket knife, which I was probably never getting back again. I was just about to accept that I would die at the hands of a mannequin, which is probably the most embarrassing way to die, when I felt a warm hand grab mine.

' _Doctor! Took you bloody long enough._ '

He leaned in to the point where I could feel his warm breath on my ear and whispered, "Run!" Who knew one word could send shivers down my spine. I barely had any time to think before my arm was being pulled out of its socket as the Doctor took off. He was pretty much dragging me before I was able to get my bearings and run beside him. However, even with our close heights and the adrenaline running through my veins, I was barely keeping up with him.

The good news was that we were getting closer to the elevator; the bad news was that the Autons were also getting closer to the elevator.

' _It seems life can never give you the good without the bad, even though it's more than willing to give you all the bad in the world. Wow, that was deep._ '

We quickly sprinted into the awaiting elevator and the Doctor soniced it to close the doors.

' _Is that a word? Soniced? That sounds fake, but okay._ '

Unfortunately, since the universe hates me with a burning passion, one of the Autons managed to stick their arm between the doors before they closed. The Doctor then proceeded to have what appeared to be a tug of war with it over its arm. This went on for a few seconds before he ripped the appendage out of its socket, stumbling backwards a bit from the force. The doors were now able to close properly.

"Don't worry. It can't do anything now. See? Just plastic," he said, tossing the immobilized arm to me.

I was just able to catch it before it hit me in the face. I began inspecting it, curiosity quickly replacing my diminishing fear and adrenaline, and I noticed something sticking out of the wrist.

"My knife!" I shouted, joy evident in my voice.

"You have a knife?" The Doctor asked, perplexed.

"Well, yeah. Just because I'm stupid enough to walk into a creepy basement by myself, doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to go unarmed." I was having quite a bit of difficulty in prying my knife out of the plastic. It took a few strong pulls for me to finally yank it out with a victorious "yes!"

"Fair point."

I looked over at the Doctor, feeling eyes boring into my skull. He was staring at me with a blank expression, like he was thinking.

"Don't think too hard; you might hurt yourself." He didn't even react to my jibe, which told me that he was really focusing.

"Why do you seem so familiar?" His expression morphed into one of confusion.

' _Dammit. I had completely forgotten about our little fiasco earlier. Would it be too much to hope for that he doesn't remember? Yeah, probably._ '

"I don't know. I've never seen you in my life," I lied, surprisingly well, too.

It wasn't enough, though. A smile took over his face and his eyes shone with recognition.

' _Shit._ '

"You're the girl who straddled me and said 'Oh my God' when she saw my face." He had the biggest shit eating grin on his face and I desperately wanted to wipe it right off.

"Hey, you're leaving out a lot of context." I didn't think it was possible but his smile actually grew.

"Ah, but it's still true." Now he was smirking, like he had me backed into a verbal corner.

' _We'll see about that._ '

My own matching smirk quickly took over my face. However, before I could get a word out to knock him down a few pegs, the elevator dinged, completely derailing my train of thought. He walked out, with me absently following, too busy trying to remember what the hell I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted. All I knew was that it was good.

"Hold on. Mind your eyes," the Doctor said, pulling me from my thoughts. I watched him sonic the elevator buttons to make it stop running, not paying mind to his warning until sparks started flying. My hand immediately flew up to shield my eyes from the bright light. "Stupid humans. They never listen," I heard him mumble under his breath.

We began walking again. I was pretty sure we were going to the back of the building like in the show.

"You've been awfully quiet," he said, eyeing me curiously, almost bordering on suspiciously.

"That's 'cause I don't really have any questions."

Oh man, the look on his face was priceless. He stopped, completely shocked at how calm I was at the entire situation. Truth be told, that was just because I knew what was gonna happen beforehand, so I had time to somewhat mentally prepare myself. I was still internally freaking out, yeah, but not as badly as I would have been if I had gone in blind.

' _I guess he's not used to people not having questions._ '

"You're telling me that you were just chased and attacked by killer mannequins and have no questions about any of that?" Now he was looking at me like I'd grown a second head or something.

"Pretty much, yeah." His expression changed into one of bewilderment before shifting into something I couldn't quite read.

"Humans," he muttered disdainfully. He began walking again, with me quickly catching up to match his stride.

' _Ah, so he mistook my quietness for not being curious. I already know, though. Otherwise, I would be asking a million questions about everything._ '

We continued our trek until we reached the back entrance. He opened the door and ushered me out, as if I was a child. I hadn't even realized we had still been holding hands until he let go. My hand felt cold without his.

"Alright, so I'm gonna go destroy the plastic creatures with this." He pulled out a small device from his jacket, which I assumed was a bomb. "And you are going to go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast." I made a face at that part, since beans on toast was disgusting, which caused him to let out a snort. His expression then became serious. "And if you tell anyone about this, you'll get them killed." He then proceeded to close the door in my face.

' _Sure Doc, whatever you say. You're not gonna scare me._ '

He quickly opened it again. The suddenness probably would have spooked me if I wasn't expecting it, like everything else. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Kaylah."

"Nice to meet you, Kaylah. Now run for your life." He waved the bomb a little bit, a giddy smile on his face, and then went to shut the door.

' _That man looks way too happy at the thought of blowing up a building. Maybe if he worked here, I'd understand. Who am I kidding? I'd totally blow this place up if I ever had the chance._ '

"Be careful, Doctor," I said sincerely, before he was able to completely close it. His expression shifted into surprise and then changed to something gentle. He gave me a soft smile, letting me know he had heard me.

I watched the door close once more and then turned around to run away from the soon-to-explode building. I sprinted through the alley way and across the road, somehow managing not bump anyone over in my haste. I did not want to repeat the event from this morning.

I turned around just in time to see the top of the building explode in a fiery inferno. Fire erupted from the roof and windows, causing glass to rain down on nearby pedestrians like deadly ice. The noise was so loud that I wouldn't have been surprised if it could have been heard by all of London. It was deafening and I was amazed at the fact that I wasn't disoriented.

All around me, I saw madness. People were screaming and running every which way, cars were honking and racing around, the building was burning like a dying sun. I looked for anyone who was hurt or unconsciousness, but I was astonished to find that apart from fearful and startled expressions, everyone seemed to be more or less okay.

' _It's the Doctor, idiot. He wouldn't set off a bomb if there was a possibility that someone could get hurt. Well, not Nine at least._ '

With that thought in mind, I left the fiery remains of my job in favor of walking home to sleep. The adrenaline that had previously been pumping through my veins was quickly dissipating, leaving nothing but exhaustion. However, I wasn't too exhausted to not notice a blue police box tucked away in a little nook between two shops. The sight of it was enough to bring me to a standstill.

' _No. Not it._ Her _._ '

I walked over to the TARDIS, completely transfixed. Her coloring reminded me of a midnight sky, so blue that it's almost black. I ran my hand down her panels; they were worn, but definitely not tattered. Her windows were bright and shining and the metal around her lock sparkled like it was brand new. She definitely looked good for about 700 years of rough traveling. I stopped when I couldn't find the 'Pull' sign. I took a quick glance around and found it on the right side, facing towards a wall. I chuckled at that.

"Hey there, gorgeous. Did the bad man park you wrong?" She let out two beeps, which I assumed meant yes. That made me chuckle again.

I started stroking her until I remembered that the Doctor was going to be coming back soon and he would definitely have a lot of questions if he found me with the TARDIS. There was a choice I had to make: stay and tell the Doctor or tell him tomorrow. I liked the first option, but I felt like I was going to collapse from the aftermath of the adrenaline. I was just too bloody tired to answer a shit ton of questions.

"What do you think, Sexy? Should I talk to him tonight?"

She let out a single beep, telling me no. An image of myself sleeping in bed appeared in my head, but it wasn't from me. It was like it just popped into my head of its own accord. Just when I started to freak out, thinking that I had a telepath in my head, the Tardis let out a soothing hum.

I looked at her, shock evident on my face. "Was that you?"

Beep beep.

"But I thought you couldn't communicate." I was extremely confused because in the show she could never really communicate. Or, at least, they never showed her communicating. An idea struck me. "Can you use pictures instead of words?"

Beep beep.

' _Cool_.' I had so many questions I wanted to ask her, but it was like my brain was too tired to form them into coherent thoughts, let alone verbal questions. I made a mental note to ask them tomorrow when I could actually think properly.

Deciding to take the Tardis' advice of going home to sleep, I said goodbye, promising her I'd be back soon. I felt this swath of warmth wrap itself around my mind, like it was her way of saying goodbye. Although that definitely made me feel wanted, it made it a little hard to leave. I steeled my resolve and turned around to walk away before I could change my mind.

I had never been more happy to be back in my own home. At this point, I was too exhausted to eat or shower or do anything but sleep. I took my shoes off, not even bothering to change out of my clothes, and climbed into bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. For the first time in five years, I slept peacefully and nightmare free.

A/N

So, this chapter is strictly Kaylah, but I do plan on incorporating Rose. Also, as I'm sure you've seen, I'm going to be splitting up the episodes into 2 chapters. This was my first time writing Nine, please tell me if he's OOC and how so. As always, please review to let me know how I'm doing. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	3. I Should've Stayed in Bed

Chapter 3 - I Should've Stayed in Bed

"Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more," my phone blared from the kitchen.

This was the fifth time in a fucking row that it had rang and I had been hoping, no, praying that the person would just take a hint already. The bed was a cocoon of warmth and you couldn't have paid me to leave it. Especially since it was the middle of the bloody night. Seriously, who the hell calls someone _five_ times in the _middle_ of the _night_?!

The song ended after what felt like an eternity, to my immense relief. That relief, however, was short lived, because it started up almost immediately afterwards. I was about ready to knock myself out just to be able to get some sleep. It seemed like whoever this asshole was wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Well, I was going to make them regret ever waking me up for whatever bullshit reason. Seriously, did they know what time it was?!

I begrudgingly got out of bed, which took me longer than I care to admit. What can I say, it's not easy to leave the warmth. I winced as my feet touched the cold wood flooring, but continued towards the noise-filled kitchen.

' _I never thought Carry on my Wayward Son could ever get obnoxious, yet here we are.'_ I picked up the phone, ready to explode on the person who had the nerve to call me so late. Unfortunately, before I could even open my mouth to get a word out, they beat me to the punch.

"Oh God, Kaylah! Do you know what time it is?! Do you have any idea how worried Mum and I were?! We saw the explosion on the news and you weren't answering your phone and they found a body and I knew you were working late because of me and, oh God, if you had died it would have been my fault and-"

"Breathe, Rose," I interrupted, trying to calm the frantic girl. She sounded like she was going to pass out on me. "Just slow down and breathe. I'm fine, alright? I'm absolutely fine. Not even a scratch on me."

After a few audible gasps, which slowed into even breaths, she began again. "Why didn't you call to say you were okay? We were so worried about you." Damn, she sounded like she was going to start crying. Or yelling. I didn't know which would be worse.

"I know. I know. I should have called. I got home and I was just so exhausted from everything that I just collapsed. I am really sorry, Rose." And I meant that with complete sincerity. She was obviously distraught because of me. I felt guilty as hell for putting her through all of that when it could have been easily avoided.

"I'll forgive you if you promise not to scare me like that again." She still sounded shaken up at the prospect of me dying, but who could blame her. Anyone would have reacted the same way at the thought of their friend being dead, especially if they thought that it was partly because of something they did. Fortunately, Rose's worry seemed to be dissipating, if only slightly.

"I promise," I soothed, intent on keeping my word, but not knowing if I would be able to. The world was a nasty place after all, especially with killer mannequins.

"Is that Kaylah?! Did you finally get a hold of her?!"

' _Oh shit! Not Jackie. Anything but Jackie. Please Universe, I am_ begging _you.'_

"Mum-" Rose was interrupted as Jackie, presumably, yanked the phone from her grasp. I assumed that was what happened because, one, I knew Jackie Tyler and, two, I heard her worried and angry voice only seconds later.

"Young lady, do you have any idea what time it is?! Your work exploded with someone inside and you don't bother to call us to tell us you were okay?! We have been trying to get a hold of you for the past half an hour. Thirty minutes we thought you were dead. Thirty damn minutes!" she screamed at me. I was surprised I even had my hearing after that. Although, there _was_ a slight ringing in my right ear.

"I know Jacks. I know. I am so sorry for how much I worried you and Rose. Like I already told her, I got home and I was so tired after everything that I just passed out. I didn't think about either of you or about how terrible it would be for you to see the news without any word from me. I'm sorry. I really am." It was one thing to get Rose to forgive me, but Jackie was an entirely different story.

After a few moments she said, "I'll forgive you, but only if you come and stay here for the night. You've been through a lot; you really shouldn't be alone."

' _That's Jackie for you. Always making a request sound like a demand.'_

I considered arguing with her about how I _wanted_ to be alone, but I could already tell from her tone of voice that it would be impossible. The best option would be to give in and accept my fate sooner rather than later. "Very well," I sighed. I stood up from the kitchen counter, not remembering sitting down, and began walking to my room to pack an overnight bag.

"Excellent. And when you get here, you can tell us what happened," Rose piped in, sounding smug. She knew I wouldn't be able to use an excuse to get out of it with both of them pestering me. Damn girl. Like mother, like daughter I suppose.

A low growl escaped my throat before I muttered a quick goodbye, hanging up before either could object. I sat down on the edge of the bed, the exhaustion from earlier returning and mixing with the exhaustion from that conversation. ' _How much trouble would I be in if I didn't go and just stayed here instead?'_ I sighed, already knowing the answer.

I grabbed my duffel bag from the closet and filled it with a change of clothes, toiletries, and my phone, wallet, and keys. I put on some socks and my converse and made my way to the front door. With another sigh, I rummaged through my bag to get my keys to lock the door when I left. Finally, I began the long trek to Rose's apartment, keys still in hand and senses on high alert.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, or so I thought since I was always terrible with time, I came to the Powell Estate. As I approached the stairwell that lead to the second floor, where Jackie and Rose lived, I heard rustling coming from behind a nearby trash can. The noise brought a thought to my mind that I had completely forgotten about.

' _Oh fuck! The plastic arm. How could I forget about the plastic arm from hell? Did I bring it back to my apartment? Dammit, I must have. I don't remember throwing it away anywhere, although I really should have. Bloody exhaustion. Bloody adrenaline making me tired and forgetful. Wait! Has it been following me?!'_ That last thought made me stop dead in my tracks. A part of me wanted to go investigate, to see if it actually was the aforementioned arm, but the larger, much smarter, part of me was screaming at me to run away from it in case it was what I dreaded it was. Another rustle from the trash can steeled my resolve and I bolted up the stairs, my 5'9" height easily allowing me to take them two at a time.

When I made it to the Tyler residence, I was out of breath from the sprint and the adrenaline leaking away, for the second time that night. Trying to slow my breathing, I knocked on the door, which opened almost immediately. Before my mind could register what was happening, I was being engulfed in a hug by two people. Although I knew it was Rose and Jackie, it felt more like a large boa constrictor was wrapping around my torso. Just when I thought my face must have been as blue as the Tardis, they finally released their hold on me. I barely got a chance to relish the feeling of being able to breathe before they both jumped into a flurry of questions, overlapping one another in their haste.

"What happened?"

"Did you see who did it?"

"Who died? Was it anyone we know?"

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"Guys!" I shouted over the ruckus. "One question at a time, please. I can't understand either of you when you're talking over each other like that." Their mouths shut with audible clicks and they each bore a sheepish expression.

"Let's sit down, dear." Jackie lead me to the living room, while Rose veered off to the kitchen. She was probably getting some tea. Brits and their tea; they're inseparable.

"What happened?" Rose asked, making some tea as I had suspected. She finished with the three cups and joined us in the living room, handing one to me as she sat on my left, with Jackie on my right. I took a sip and was happily surprised to learn it was just what I liked: four sugars and no milk.

Now the real question of the hour was what was I going to tell them. On my walk over here I had been debating between three possibilities: trying to pull some bullshit out of my ass that they would probably see right through, telling them the entire truth, which would have me thrown in the loony bin, or combining a healthy dosage of both, where the only consequence would be my guilty conscious. It technically wasn't lying, but it wasn't exactly truthful either. They would definitely bite my head off for that small discrepancy when they learned everything, but hey, that was a problem for future me.

"It was the end of the night and I was putting the lottery money away before closing time, like always, when I stumbled upon a man in the basement. I told him it was closing time and that he shouldn't even be down there to begin with, let alone after hours. He showed me a bomb and told me to run. He seemed delusional and he definitely had a bomb so I booked it out of there. I was going to call the police as soon as I was out of the building, but by then it was too late." Alright, so the last part was a flat out lie, but the rest was true. Maybe not in the right order or context, but true nonetheless. Damn, I'd make a good fairy. Or lawyer. Hell, why not both?

I could tell Rose was slightly suspicious of my story, but her mother seemed to be eating it right up. "Do you think you'd be able to give a description to the police? Maybe ID him from a list of suspects?"

' _I hope he's long gone by then. The last thing the Doctor needs is to get mixed up with the local police. He'd probably insult them and get himself into even more trouble, knowing Nine.'_

"No. I wish I could. It was really dark and I couldn't get a good look at him. I might be able to recognize him if I saw him, but I doubt it."

' _And Rose's suspicions increase. She knows that the lighting down there isn't the best, but it isn't terrible either; definitely not bad enough to not be able to see someone. Shit. Shit! How am I going to convince her that I'm not lying, regardless of the fact that I kinda am? Why didn't I just say that he was wearing a mask? Stupid, stupid, stupid.'_

Before Rose could open her mouth to undoubtedly question me, I beat her to the punch. "Hey guys, I've had a long day and I'm really tired. I just want to get some sleep and put this all behind me, if you don't mind." Although I said it so that I could get out of talking with Rose, it wasn't a lie. I actually was really tired and all I wanted to do was crawl up into a ball and knock out for a few days. God, that would be nice.

"Of course, sweetheart. Let me go grab you some blankets for the couch," Jackie said as she left me alone to face my doom.

' _No! Please come back! I will literally pay you to come back and not leave me alone with Rose. If you ever cared about me, Jackie Tyler, you would come back right now.'_ I watched her walk away, praying to suddenly have the powers of telepathy. Hell, I was half-tempted to actually voice some of my thoughts. Unfortunately, I have very little conversational skills and even less courage in that department. Need me to answer a medical-related question? Sure thing. Need me to tackle a crazy person who is twice my weight and has about half a foot on me? I can definitely do that. Want me to actually talk about my feelings and ask someone to stay with me? Eh, I think I'll take a rain check. Yeah, I'm that kind of person. Don't worry, I hate me, too.

When I looked back at Rose, she was staring at my with an intensity that actually shocked me, although I didn't let that show on my face. Well, I hoped I didn't. It was like she was trying to make me spill all of my darkest secrets with sheer will alone. I was kinda impressed, to be honest.

' _She's probably wishing to be a telepath, too.'_

I stared back at her, just as intensely. We were each silently daring the other to make the first move. It was a trick Abigail and I would always use with the girls to get them to confess to whatever they did. Patience was never my virtue, but this was my one exception. Plus, it worked almost all of the time. After a few moments, Rose was the one to break the tense silence. "Why did you lie to Mum?" Her tone was more than a little accusing, and I wanted nothing more than to say a sarcastic retort in response. With great effort, I managed to restrain myself. Barely.

"She wouldn't believe the truth." It was a crap answer and we both knew it, but I was way too tired to deal with this right now. Well, without snapping at her and being nasty, that is. Tiredness tends to bring out the worst in me.

"Which is?" She wasn't even being subtle about prying for information. Not for the first time that night, I noticed how similar her personality could be to that of her mother's. Unfortunately.

"Look, Rose. I wasn't lying when I said that I was tired. I feel like I'm going to drop on my feet." She opened her mouth to interrupt me, but I put my hand up, effectively halting her in her tracks. "I'm not trying to divert the conversation like I am notorious for doing. Honestly. I just want to get a good few hours of sleep and then I'll spill my guts to you in the morning. Pinky promise." I held my pinky out for her to wrap hers around. It was a bit of a childish move, but hey, what's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?

When she merely looked at my outstretched finger, I feared that she wouldn't accept it. That would mean that she was really upset. However, she quickly wrapped her pinky around mine, although grudgingly. "You better, Kaylah McKenzie Tenhoff," she threatened. I raised my eyebrows at her, as if to say 'really, middle name?' She only gave me a slight smirk in response.

Right at that moment, her mother came back, carrying enough blankets to take care of an army. My eyes widened when I could barely see the women behind the bundle and Rose chuckled at her mother. We both quickly got up to help the her carry the load. ' _Jesus. She's acting as if I'm going to freeze to death. It's almost Spring. Yeah, it's London, but still. I don't need to be buried in blankets.'_

I figured she was just being overprotective after the thought of losing me, so I didn't voice any of my thoughts. Rose looked like she was going to, so I silenced her with a glare. I was fine with letting Jackie fuss over me for a little bit if it made her feel better; I owed her that much after what I put her through. I thanked her for thinking of me and wished her and Rose a goodnight.

Soon, it was just me and my thoughts; my racing, raging thoughts that were making it difficult for me to sleep, even though my body was more than willing to. They jumped from Rose to the Nestene Consciousness and it's dummies (Ha! Dummies. Oh shut up, I'm hilarious) to the Doctor and the Tardis. My brain was bouncing from one thought to the next so quickly that I thought I would get dizzy while lying down. However, without fail, they would always come back to the Doctor.

' _I'm gonna tell him the truth, I already know that. But how? This man just suffered through the Time War. I don't know how he'll react to my absurd, although truthful story. Especially since I don't really have any indisputable proof to support it. Speaking of Time War, telling him the truth about that is going to be very difficult. But hey, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.'_

Everything would happen tomorrow, whether good or bad. I just had to wait and find out. I always hated waiting though, didn't have enough patience for it. Eventually, I drifted off into a fitful sleep, my worried thoughts manifesting as worried dreams, not allowing my mind the same peace it had earlier.

* * *

"Beep. Beep. Beep" Two identical groans could be heard in the small apartment.

"Don't bother getting up, girls. It's not like you have a job to go to."

Under normal circumstances, I would have rejoiced at the thought of sleeping in and not having to go to work. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances. No work means no money which means no food or paid bills. Unlike Rose, I didn't have someone to fall back on and I refused to be homeless again. I needed a new source of income, and fast.

I rolled off the couch, my body not waking up as quickly as my mind. My feet slipped out from under me and I wound up falling flat on my face with a cry of pain leaving my lips. Rose, the asshole, laughed at me as she groggily walked into the kitchen. I gently prodded at my nose, feeling a bit of blood but nothing broken, while glaring at her retreating back.

I stood up, using the table by my side for support, and walked into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. Nothing extravagant, just some toast and milky, sugary coffee, which was more sugar than coffee, to be honest. I joined Rose at the table, who had a plate of scrambled eggs and a mug of tea. Her mother, the blasted woman, kept prattling on and on about job options. Don't get me wrong, I love the woman, but I could barely handle her during the day, let alone in the morning with barely any coffee in my system. That was just asking too much of me.

"And I'm not joking about compensation, Kaylah." That was the other thing she wouldn't shut up about. She just kept nagging me about getting compensation, talking about trauma and shock and such. I mean, it's not like it was a bad idea, but she didn't have to keep bugging me about it as if I hadn't heard her the first twenty times she brought it up. I was tired, not deaf.

"Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim," Jackie continued as she walked away to her room.

"What does that mean? Is she even speaking English?" I whispered to Rose, hoping to not catch the attention of her mother.

"I don't know any more. Just smile and nod along. I've learned that it's the best way to deal with her," she whispered back with a quiet chuckle. I joined in until I heard a noise from the door. It was weird, like scratching or rattling or something like that. My breath caught in my throat when I remembered the arm that wa- _might_ have been following me.

' _Oh God! Is it here?! Did it come through the cat flap? Was that what that noise was? Wait. No. The Doctor is first and then the stupid arm. It's not here yet. Or maybe it is, but it's just not going to show up 'til later. Hopefully. Fuck. I really don't want to see that thing again. Can this part of the story just not happen? Please?'_

My pleading and slightly self-pitying thoughts were interrupted by Rose. "Hey, Kaylah! You said you nailed that stupid flap down."

"I did! I couldn't handle you and your mother bitching about it anymore." Two indignant cries of "Oi!" rang through the apartment.

Okay, now that conversation caused a wave of déjà vu to sweep over me, but like when you see something that is familiar but not exactly right. And I mean, I guess that makes sense considering I have seen it happen before, just without me being involved, but it was still strange and eerie. I didn't like it at all.

Ignoring the feeling, like I do with all of them, I walked over to Rose, who was crouching by the door, looking at something on the ground. That _something_ just so happened to be the newly removed screws that once inhabited the cat flap that I was going to have to nail down again. The aforementioned flap rustled like before, causing both of us to jump slightly in surprise. We looked at each other, her expression a mix of shock and confusion and fear. My emotions probably would have mirrored her own if I didn't have the fortune of knowing exactly what was on the other side of that door. Well, more of a who than a what.

She gently tapped the flap and then retracted her hand quickly, as if it was going to bite her. When nothing happened, she prodded it a bit more forcefully, still wary of the contraption. Finally, she pushed the flap open, only to find a stranger's face peering back at us in confusion; well, a stranger to her. I could tell she was definitely not expecting that because she reeled back in shock and turned to face me, her face slightly more pale than usual. Speechless, she yanked open the door to stare dumbly at the man before us. That didn't last very long, though.

"Who the hell are you?" she yelled, sounding slightly hysterical and just a touch fearful. I mean, it was understandable considering there was a strange man outside of her door being weird. I'm surprised she even opened the door, although I'm sure I had my presence to thank for that.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her, before turning to me in a clear sign of dismissal. Which he should definitely not have done. Rose absolutely hated rude people and was not afraid of letting them know. She had an even shorter temper than her mother, which was really saying something.

"What're you doing here?" he said, casually ignoring Rose's death glare that could have melted gold.

"I stayed the night."

"Well, what'd you do that for?"

"That's usually what you do when you're in shock. You stay at a friend's house."

"You didn't look like you were in shock last night. Actually, you didn't even look that surprised..." he trailed off, his expression portraying the inner turmoil of his thoughts.

I was going to make a snarky comment about him not hurting himself with all of that thinking, but Rose, still pissed from earlier, decided this was the perfect time to butt in. "Last night? You said you didn't see anyone. Well, except for…" her eyes widened in understanding as she realized who exactly was in front of us. The Doctor, unaware of Rose's revelation, fiddled with his sonic screwdriver and frowned at what must have been its readings.

"Hmm. I must have gotten the wrong signal. Neither of you are plastic, are you?" He then proceeded to rap on each of our heads. Rose continued staring at the man in blatant shock and disbelief, the action seemingly had no effect on her. She probably couldn't believe that she was actually looking at the man who blew up our job. I, however, shot him an angry glare because that hurt slightly. He didn't have to do it so hard. After all, he was checking to see if I was plastic or not, not trying to smack my head off. "Nope, boneheads. Bye then." He gave a little wave and quickly turned around, intending to walk away.

Unfortunately for him, Rose needed to meet him, maybe even get to know him a bit, since I took that away from her when I was in Henrik's instead of her. Besides, I wanted there to be witnesses around when I had to finally explain all of this to her.

"Yeah, no," I said, grabbing his left arm to haul him inside. He looked surprised, obviously not used to being handled in such a way considering he was the one always dragging everyone else around in his travels. Rose also looked surprised, but in more of an "are you crazy?" sort of way. In her defense, she did only know him as the man who blew up Henrik's.

"Who is it?" Jackie called from her bedroom. I had completely forgotten about her with everything that was going on. I was a bit bewildered as to why she hadn't said anything earlier, especially when Rose yelled, but hey, it's Jackie, she hardly ever heard anything that didn't involve her.

"It's about the incident. He's here to do an interview and stuff. Do you mind if we do it here? I don't really feel comfortable going home just yet." The lie rolled off my tongue smoothly and elegantly, as if it had been rehearsed. That was one good thing about living on the streets: I knew how to lie quickly and effectively when I needed to.

"Of course not dear," she said, slightly pitying, as Rose and I walked past her room, with the Doctor hanging back by the doorway.

"What the hell is going on, Kaylah?! Why did you bring him in?! Did he really blow up Henrik's?!" she frantically whispered, clinging on to my arm as if it was a life-line. I shushed her and, before she could open her mouth to make a, no doubt sarcastic, retort, pointed towards her mother's door where I could just hear the beginning of a conversation.

"She deserves compensation, you know."

"That's why I'm here, so we can go over all of the little details before getting her that compensation." To be honest, I was pretty amazed by how effortlessly he followed my lie. He just picked it up as if we'd been friends for years. Then again, the Doctor is also good at lying, with all the experience he has doing it.

I couldn't see, but I could just imagine Jackie looking the Doctor over and giving him one of her signature flirtatious looks. Just the thought of him barely even glancing at her made me almost break down into a fit of laughter.

"I'm in my dressing gown," she said, very clearly flirting.

"Yes, you are." His voice sounded inexpressive, as if he was just making a simple observation.

"There's a strange man in my bedroom."

"Yes, there is."

"Well, anything could happen."

"Ah, no." I could practically hear the understanding in his voice when he realized just what she was implying.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jackie dearly, but every once in a while she needs to be brought back down to Earth; so to hear her flirting being so blatantly shot down was hilarious. I finally gave in to the urge and broke down laughing, with Rose looking at me like I finally lost it and the Doctor walking past with a knowing smirk on his face that made me laugh even harder. It took awhile for me to calm down, with my laughs petering off into slight hiccups. When I could breathe properly again, I looked up at Rose to see her glaring at me with a mixture of anger and confusion, and maybe just a hint of fear.

"Now that you're done laughing at my mum, are you gonna tell me why you brought a bomber into my home?"

"Oh come on. You know that was funny. If you weren't so wound up, you'd be laughing, too." Unfortunately, I realized my mistake in phrasing much too late. It seemed poor wording would be the end of me.

"Wound up? Wound up?!" She nearly shouted the last part, but caught herself at the last moment and proceeded to whisper-yell it, after a quick glance at the Doctor, who was looking at some magazine. "I am _wound up_ because you brought a bomber into my home and let him into the same room as my mother. I am _wound up_ because he destroyed the place where we worked, killed Wilson, almost killed you. I am _wound up_ because you are clearly covering for him when we should be calling the police."

"Okay, look, I can explain everything, just don't call the police." Alright, so I might have been begging just a little bit, but I really did not want to get the police involved. That would just cause more problems than I wanted to deal with.

She gave my face a quick once over and, seeing something that made her face soften, probably concern, gave a slight nod. "Fine."

"Do you believe in aliens?"

"What?" The shock was evident on her face. She was clearly expecting me to say something much different.

"It's a yes or no question. Simple as that."

"I suppose so," she said cautiously, as if she wasn't quite sure if that was the right answer or not.

I gave her a small smile that told her that was exactly what I wanted to hear. "Well, at Henrick's, there were these mannequins. Like, living, moving, creepy mannequins. Real nightmarish stuff. And they were being controlled by this alien called the Nestene Consciousness. They were the ones who killed Wilson, not the Doctor, and they were going to kill me, too, but he helped me escape. He blew up the building so he could destroy the relay device that was helping the alien control the mannequins at such a distance, like a wifi extender. He's a good guy, Rose."

It took a few moments for her to really process everything I said, which was understandable. Surprisingly enough, her face was blank, not giving away any of her thoughts. "And you're serious?"

"As serious as a heart attack." She knew I would never lie to her. I might leave out some things, maybe even manipulate the truth, but I would never flat out lie to her.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Now it was my turn to be confused.

"If you say he's a good guy, then he's a good guy. I trust your judgement." Now that was probably the nicest thing anyone could have ever said to me. It put one hell of a smile on my face. She smiled back at me before turning to the living room, just in time for us both to see the Doctor epically fail at shuffling a deck of cards from one hand to another. Rose joined in on my laughter this time, now that she was more comfortable, if only slightly. Before he had the chance to feel too embarrassed about us witnessing his blunder, Rose called out, "Hey, Doctor, was it? How do you like your coffee?"

"Just milk, please." He turned to the mirror on the wall opposite the couch and gave his face a once over. He twisted his head around, trying to see from different angles. It was as if he had never seen his face before, which was the case, I reminded myself. The thought brought a sense of sadness with it, as I remembered why this was the first time he had seen it.

"Ah, could have been worse. Look at the ears though," he said, flicking his ears with a look of annoyance.

"I happen to like your ears. They suit your face; match your nose, too," I said, walking into the living room with my second cup of diabetes, as Rose called it. Hey, it's not my fault coffee is bitter.

He turned to look at me, leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed in a way that was a bigger turn on than it had any right to be, and narrowed his eyes at the smirk on my lips. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said in mock displeasure, obviously knowing exactly what I meant.

My smirk increased into something devious. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with their similarities in size." His expression shifted into something more akin to mock anger, but it quickly dissipated when we both heard a rustle come from the cat flap, the previously unscrewed cat flap thanks to _someone_.

"Do you have a cat?" the Doctor asked curiously, looking around for the source of the noise. He slowly peered over the back of the couch to inspect.

' _Please be a cat. Please be a cat. Please be a cat. Please be a-'_

Unsurprisingly, it was not a cat. As I'm sure you all guessed, it was that stupid plastic arm. I watched in amazement as it flew into the air and latched onto the Doctor's throat. If it had been any other situation, I would have laughed at his ridiculous, slightly puffed up face. But then it dawned on me, this wasn't some amusing scene in a TV show meant to make the audience laugh; this was real life, and he was choking, respiratory bypass or not.

With that thought in mind, I jumped into action, trying to yank that menace of an arm off of his neck. I could hear Rose prattling on about cats in the kitchen, but it was more like background noise due to the amount of focus I was putting into preventing him from being strangled to death.

' _Jesus! How can a plastic arm be so strong?! It doesn't even have any muscles or metal structures! It's literally just plastic, for God's sake!'_

It was at this moment that Rose decided to grace us with her presence. Seriously, who takes that long to make coffee? I just barely made out something about her being disappointed in me playing along with such tricks when I finally pulled the arm off of the Doctor. We both let out a sigh of relief, but it was short lived because it quickly latched onto Rose's face, causing her to drop the cup of coffee. The Doctor and I lunged for her, trying to pry it off of my friend. The effort caused the three of us to fall backwards and crash into the coffee table, the poor thing breaking beneath our combined weight. When it seemed tugs weren't getting us anywhere, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and jammed it at the hand, which, in my opinion, he really should have done to begin with, but hey, what do I know. We finally pulled it off of her face and the Doctor disabled it.

The three of us sat up, each with a different expression: I was relieved, Rose was afraid, and the Doctor was thoughtful. "It's all right, I've stopped it. See? Armless."

"Oh I'll show you armless," Rose said, grabbing the still arm and smacking him with it. Now there's the Rose I know. I would rather deal with an angry Rose than a scared one any day.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his arm with an adorable pout. He quickly got up and bolted for the door, obviously not wanting to face the wrath of Rose Tyler. It was a good call on his part, but that woman is relentless, especially when her interest was piqued. And being choked by a disembodied arm would pique anyone's interest.

Rose jumped up and ran after him, right on his heels. I sighed and got up as well, brushing off debris from the remnants of the table, and began to follow her at a much more leisure pace. I walked out of the apartment and saw her chasing him down the stairs, shouting at him and just being Rose. I sighed again and began to jog down the stairs to catch up, taking them two at a time. I caught up with them just as we reached the bottom.

"Hey, you can't just walk away. You gotta tell me what's going on." Rose shouted at his back, starting to realize that her pestering was getting her nowhere, but not willing to back down, as is the Tyler family way.

"Why don't you ask her? She seems to know more than she's letting on." He nodded at me, with a look in his eyes of perplexion. Rose turned around, not quite understanding what he meant. I don't think he really understood either, not yet anyways.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her face a mix of confusion as well.

"I never told her aliens were involved, let alone that it was a Nestene Consciousness. Hell, I wasn't even sure myself until I saw the transmitter on the roof. Yet that's what she told you it was, without even needing me to tell her. And in Henrick's, she wasn't scared or nervous, well, not as much as she should have been. I can't understand it, not yet. Ready to give me some answers now, Kaylah?" He was talking to Rose for most of it, but for the entire speech he had looked right at me, in a way that made me feel like he was searching my very soul for my darkest secrets. If that was the case, he wouldn't like what he found.

It felt like a game between the two of us, like a game of cat and mouse. One second he would have me all figured out and the next I would do something to scatter his thoughts into the wind. "Nah. I'm having too much fun. And I think you are, too. Been awhile since you had a good puzzle, hasn't it?" There was a smirk on my face, the kind of smirk of someone who has all the answers and doesn't want to share them. Oh yes, this was fun.

The Doctor obviously agreed because he smirked back at me, that of someone accepting a challenge with vigor. "I'm going to figure you out. Just wait and see." And with that he turned around and walked off. Rose and I watched him until he turned a corner and disappeared.

"What did he mean? When you told me about the Nestene whatever I thought he had told you. But if he didn't, how did you know? And he was right. When you came over, you weren't shaken up at all. Mum and I were more scared than you and you were the one who had been in the bloody building. What's going on?" She was confused, that much was clear, maybe even a touch afraid. I hated seeing her like this. "Are you an alien?" Her eyes went all wide, as if she had stumbled upon some great secret.

I couldn't help but laugh and it helped to ease some of the tension between us after my little interaction with the Doctor. "No, I'm not an alien, but good guess." The smile dropped from my face, becoming serious once more. "I don't think this is really a good time for me to tell you, Rose. I mean, you just had a bunch of information dropped on you, with aliens and living plastic and bombers being good guys. I don't really wanna drop anymore on you." She opened her mouth, presumably to argue as she so often does. "How about I tell you when I eventually tell the Doctor, because I'm telling you right now, he's not gonna figure it out on his own. Besides, we have other stuff to focus on."

She raised an eyebrow at me, silently asking me what I was going on about. "You better not be deflecting, Kaylah Tenhoff. I'll tell my mother."

"No thank you. I choose life." She rolled her eyes at my dramatics but anyone who knows Jackie Tyler knows that I speak the truth. "Come on. There's this friend I planned on meeting today, to talk about the explosion. I'm sure he won't mind if you tag along. He knows a lot about the Doctor, most of which he figured out on his own. I just had to correct a couple things here and there and sometimes nudge him in the right direction."

"Who?" She asked, her curiosity piqued again.

"His name's Clive, Clive Finch."

* * *

We pulled up to Clive's house in Mickey's ugly ass yellow bug. He insisted on joining us, regardless of the fact that I told him over and over again that I had been to Clive's house multiple times and that he was a wonderful guy with kids and a wife. Well, the kids were a bit snobby, but that's not the point. The point was that he wouldn't hurt Rose and me, but Mickey refused to listen to me, as usual.

Rose and I got out, with Mickey making as if to join us. "Nuh uh. You're not coming in with us," I said, really not wanting to deal with an argument right now.

"Of course I am! What if he's a serial killer?!" He threw his hands up, expressing his exasperation with me. It was quite common with the two of us.

"For God's sake Mickey! This is the fifth time I've told you, he's not a bloody serial killer. I've been to his house plenty of times and he's nothing but a complete sweetheart. Besides, I'd be able to protect Rose a lot better than you."

Rose, ever the peacekeeper between the two of us, screamed, "oh quit it you two!" She gave me a hard glare, obviously not liking my comment.

"What? It's true." And it was. Mickey was like a deer: more likely to run away at the first sign of danger than actually try to fight, even if that so-called "danger" was nothing more than a stupid rat in the trash can. If that seems oddly specific, it's because it is.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to Mickey, a gentle look on her face. "Mickey, it's okay. We're gonna be fine, alright? Just stay in the car, okay? If anything happens, I'll call for you." He seemed reassured. He looked at me with something akin to victory, as if boasting that if she needed it Rose would come to him for help, not to me.

I rolled my eyes and walked towards Clive's door, smiling at the familiarity of it. I had come to Clive's house many times after I had first met Rose and her mother Jackie. Back than, I had told myself that it was completely random, just a coincidence, that they looked and sounded and acted like Rose and Jackie Tyler from Doctor Who. I wanted to drown myself in denial, but no matter how much I wanted to believe it, I couldn't, not after everything I had been through. So I looked up Clive, found his website, and we started talking. That had been about a year ago.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Rose knocking on the door. One of Clive's sons, who couldn't have been older than 12, answered the door and immediately recognized me. "Dad, it's that loon of yours." Rose raised an eyebrow, obviously not expecting that, but I just rolled my eyes for what felt like the 100th time that day. A memory of Abigail saying that if I kept it up, I'd roll my eyes right out of my head wormed its way into my mind. I internally flinched at the sudden thought of her.

Michael moved aside to let his dad approach the door. He gave me a big smile, as always, but looked curiously at Rose. I probably should have told him about her beforehand. Oh, well.

"Clive, this is my best friend, Rose. She recently met the Doctor and I thought it would be best if we answered some of her questions together."

"Of course. Always happy to help a friend of Kaylah's. Come in, I'll take you to the back." He gave us each a kind smile and turned around, making his way through the neat house and to the backyard, where the shed was.

Rose started to look a little unsure, as if she was starting to think that maybe Mickey was right, for once. I took her hand, gave it a squeeze, and shot her my most reassuring smile. "Hey, would I ever do anything that I thought would hurt you?"

"No," she said definitively, and with newfound confidence, followed after Clive, my hand still in hers, as if it was a lifeline.

"Is that Kaylah?" Caroline, Clive's wife, called out. "Tell her I made her favorite pie."

I let out an exaggerated sigh, a soft smile on my face. I never should have told that woman I lost my family. She always piled me sky high with desserts and leftovers to take home whenever I came over to talk with Clive about a new discovery of his. She was a wonderful woman, really, and Clive was a lucky man, but I just could not eat an entire pie on my own. Well, I mean, I could, but I most definitely should not.

We entered Clive's shed and it was pretty much what you'd expect a shed to look like, with a work table and childrens' bikes. The only thing really out of the ordinary was a bookshelf at the back, completely filled with binder after binder of all of the information he had gathered on the Doctor throughout the years.

"This is everything I know about the Doctor! All thanks to Kaylah, of course. She helped me collect it all. If it wasn't for her, I'd still be floundering around with half-baked ideas and conspiracy theories." He chuckled humorously, perhaps a touch of self deprecation mixed in.

"Don't sell yourself short Clive. You were on the right track." And he really was. He may not have known much before I came along, but I had not doubt that he'd get here eventually. I just sped up the process, that's all.

"Oh, please Kaylah. The only thing I knew about him was that he existed." Now that was definitely self deprecation, a dear old friend of mine, especially in these most recent years. I was about to interject, as I knew all too well what happened when someone found themselves spiraling like that, but Rose cut me off before I could even open my mouth. Damn, this was becoming a habit.

"So, who is he?" Curiosity and confusion colored her face, making her look much younger than her 19 years belied. She reminded me of when I met her a year ago, a bright, newly graduated 18 year old who was more curious about my Supernatural tattoo than judgy. At that time, the show hadn't come out yet, so more often than not the anti-demon possession tattoo on my upper arm automatically labelled me as a devil worshiper in most people's eyes. To be fair, if you've seen the show, that's not entirely wrong. Okay, woah, I need to stop walking down memory lane in the middle of conversations. Anyways.

I came back to reality just in time to hear Clive say the words "time-traveling alien." I mean, those were pretty accurate words, as that's what he was, but I don't think that's the best to go about introducing someone to such an unbelievable topic. Clive never was one for subtlety though, so I wasn't really surprised.

I was surprised, however, by Rose's reaction. She seemed genuinely unbelieving. Quite the change from the girl who so readily accepted the thought of aliens. I voiced as much when I said, "What? You can believe in aliens but not time travel?"

"Aliens are just people from another planet. Time travel is… Isn't time travel impossible?" Wow, that was actually a pretty good point.

"Just by our modern understanding of science. There's plenty of things we knew as fact a hundred years ago that can easily be disproved as false nowadays. Our understanding of the universe is constantly changing. A fact of life today could be a simple falsehood tomorrow," Clive said, a bit of wonder shining in his eyes like a little kid looking at the stars for the first time.

"So time travel is possible." Ah, still disbelieving. Maybe she just had to see it to believe it. Well, we'll fix that later when the Doctor shows back up. Oh, she is going to hate when I tell her 'I told you so.'

"Anything is possible."

"Uh huh. So a time traveling alien has been coming to Earth for…"

"Years. Centuries, probably. We have no idea how long. Well, I don't." He sent me a side glance, suspicion written all over his face. It passed almost instantly and I was left pondering what that could possibly mean.

"Yeah, but how could no one know? News stations, reporters, the government."

This is where I interjected, finally speaking up to contribute to the conversation. "Oh, the government knows all right. It's one of Britain's best kept secrets. They do their best to cover up the Doctor and anything alien related, but a few things fall through the cracks here and there, if you know where to look."

"Is that how you and Clive found out about him?"

I opened my mouth to answer, not quite sure if it was going to be some semblance of the truth or just a straight up lie, which I really didn't like to do, but fortunately Clive piped up to save my ass.

"Kaylah, why don't you go help Caroline. I think she's making some more desserts and would really like your help. She was just complaining about how she hardly ever gets to see you."

Or maybe he wasn't saving my ass. Now I was the one making the suspicion-filled side glances. "Okay, I know when I'm not wanted," I joked, but I wasn't able to mask my confusion. I left without an argument and squeezed Rose's shoulder, reassuring her that she'd be okay with Clive. He really was a good man and I knew for a fact that he would absolutely not do anything to hurt her.

I stepped out of the shed, closing the door behind me. I faked my footsteps walking away and leaned my ear against the door. What? I said that I would leave, not that I wouldn't listen to someone who clearly wanted to talk about me. And yeah, it made me feel pretty shitty to be eavesdropping on two of my friends, but I pushed that incessant, nagging voice down and focused on what they were saying.

"You should be careful around her, Rose. I think she's a good person, no doubt in my mind about that, Caroline can always tell when someone isn't, but she's definitely hiding something."

"What makes you think that?"

"I looked into her, after she first came to me with what she new about the Doctor. You know, background checks and what not. Everything came back clean, but it felt off, almost like a fasade or something, so I called the high school she graduated from. They looked her up in the system, said she was a perfect student, but no one knew anything more than that. The teachers didn't have a single thing to say about her: not good, not bad, not even a passing remark of remembrance. They didn't even recognize her."

"They have lots of students every year. Surely they can't be expected to remember all of them." It was hard to judge her tone without seeing her face, but she sounded almost cautious, like she wanted to make sense of what she was hearing by some means.

"I get that, but isn't it suspicious that not a single person remembered a single thing about her? I even spoke to some of the students that went to the school and none of them even remembered her either. No friends, no enemies, no acquaintances, no one."

"So, what? You think she never really went there or something?"

"Precisely."

"Oh. But why? Why lie? Why fake it?"

"That's what I've been struggling with. I don't know."

They fell into silence, presumably both contemplating the enigma that is moi. It was unbearable, at least to my ears. Back before all this multi-universal traveling bullshit, I had never been the kind of person who was very comfortable with silence, even the companionable kind. After, though? It's become absolutely nightmarish. The silence reminds me of the darkness and the darkness is fear.

I dragged my mind out of its deep crevasses that I tried to avoid at all costs, hardly able to deal with the nightmares at nighttime, let alone during the day. I hadn't had a nightmare during the day in years; that was the last thing I needed right now. Turning my focus away from such a terrible topic, I focused on my current predicament. I decided to make my presence known and faked my steps as if I was walking towards the door. When I opened it, their heads snapped to me so quickly I was almost worried that they would get whiplash.

"My ears are burning. Were you two talking about me?" I joked, a smirk firmly in place. I already knew the answer, of course, but it was just so much fun to mess with them.

"No!" They both blurted out. Even if I didn't know that was a lie, I probably could have figured it out just from how suspicious that was. One of these days I really needed to teach these two how to lie properly.

"Look, Kaylah, we should probably get going. Mickey's been waiting in the car for a while. I mean, I did say we wouldn't be long," Rose piped up, clearly wanting to change the subject.

I opened my mouth to make a negative comment about him, as I usually would, but I had already made so many on the way here and I knew that Rose got upset when I complained about her boyfriend too much. Instead, I muttered a quick fine and Rose and I made our goodbyes to Clive. He showed us back through the house and we repeated the process with Caroline.

Walking out, I glanced at Mickey's car and noticed the shine to his skin. He was probably already plastic. I thought back to my previous negative experiences with Nestene controlled plastic mannequins and decided that I really did not want to deal with that. I'd had enough of that for a lifetime, let alone two days. God, had it really only been two days?

Turning to Rose, I began to speak. "Hey, Rose. I need to talk to Clive. Why don't you and Mickey go on ahead? I can meet you at the pizza place."

"Are you sure?" She looked concerned, probably wondering why I would pass up on a ride in favor of walking. Yeah, well, I barely wanted to be around Real Mickey, let alone the plastic one. Plus, this Mickey got his driving skills from the real one and I did not want to deal with anymore of that, thank you very much.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I could use a nice walk," I reassured, trying to be as charming and convincing as possible. I didn't want to worry her or anything. "There's just a lot on my mind. Some fresh air might help."

With that, she returned my smile with a kind one of her own. After giving me a comforting squeeze to my arm, she walked away, seeming to not even notice any difference between Plastic Mickey in the car and the original one. Heaven knows how, considering even from this distance he just looked wrong. And I knew from what I remembered from the TV show that he sounds and acts wrong, too. If someone I loved had been switched with a cheap-looking, plastic clone, especially one that was so blatantly obvious, you bet your ass I would notice. But, hey, that's none of my business.

I watched her walk to the car before turning back to Clive, who was looking at me expectantly, probably waiting for me to elaborate on what I wanted to talk to him about. Well, here goes nothing.

"Are you or your family going to the mall tomorrow?"

"Why?" He was confused and rightly so; it was quite an odd question to ask, especially out of the blue. I mean, in his mind it was completely unrelated, even though that's not the case.

"Don't. Just, don't go. Don't go near any mannequins or really anything plastic for that matter. Actually, try your best to stay home. You're not gonna wanna be out in the city."

"But why? What's going to happen?" Now his confusion had a bit of worry mixed in. It was understandable, but God I really did not want to explain all of this right now. With my own anxiety and nervousness plaguing me, I did not have the time or patience at the moment.

"Look, if you want to keep yourself and your family safe, you're just going to have to trust me and stay home tomorrow. You'll thank me later." And with that, I walked away, ignoring the sound of my name being called. Wow, when did I become so dramatic? It was probably the Doctor. That man had enough drama to supply the whole Universe. Speaking of the Doctor, he was probably tracking the signal from the disembodied arm right about now, which would lead him to the pizza place and Plastic Mickey.

"I'm sure this is gonna be fun," I muttered sarcastically under my breath, really not looking forward to my next confrontation with living plastic. I knew I should've just stayed in bed this morning.

* * *

A/N

Hey guys! I am so sorry about how late this is! I've been busy with school and work and my cat died and my family had to put down 2 of our horses and I was in the hospital for a bit and just ugh! Everything's a lot better now, which is how I was finally able to post this after a whole year. Sorry again!

On a less apologizing note, I have decided to change my 2 chapters an episode plan to 3 since I like to put a lot of detail in and having to write such big chapters would mean slower update times. It'll depend on the episode, of course, since I have to find good places to stop, but that's going to be the plan for now. As it is, this chapter is still pretty big and I'm expecting the next one to be big as well since we still have so much left. I am going to get on it right away. The next update is going to be a lot sooner than the last one. I promise!

As always, please let me know what you think about the story and how I've portrayed the characters, especially since I've added Rose and Jackie to this one and there's more of the Doctor. Also, I don't have a beta so please let me know if there's any spelling mistakes. Your comments give me life so please give them to me! Thank you all so much for reading and putting up with my year-long hiatus bullshit!


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